Cathedral Window Quilts

 Vintage cathedral window quilt pillow

 My creation - white background pillow

 Purple or darker background not sure of the final outcome yet.

Kodachrome slide curtain

I was fortunate enough to come across many vintage Kodachrome slides, most of which were taken by my Grandmother in the late 50's and early 60's. So what to do with these?  Slide curtain. Looks like stained glass, doesn't it?

Goodwill Bear

Here are a pair of pants that I had purchased at my local Goodwill store. They were really comfortable, but not really me. So, I decided to not let them go to waste and made my Goodwill Bear - known as Stretch.

Isn't this better?

Scotch tape dispenser

This is a re-purposed scotch tape dispenser. Used parts from a broken necklace, recovered the buttons with magazine paper and a cork was inserted in the center to hold it all together. The "tape" is the cardboard from a bag of kitty litter...

I made another one with Christmas paper and left the hold open so it can become a Christmas ornament!

I entered this in a Reader Challenge for the Cloth Paper Scissors magazine but this was not selected for publication. You can also see this on the Cloth Paper Scissors website under Reader Challenge mini art gallery.

The Reupholster the Wing Back Project

I bought this wing back chair in Hudson, NH in either 1987 or 1988. I've kept it in storage since 2006, and was waiting for a time when I could afford to have it professionally reupholstered. That day never came. Life kind of got in the way and the chair never became a priority. Finally, I got up the courage to do it myself.

Taking it apart was time consuming and at time, dangerous. When I first started, I only had a screw driver to take out the tacks, and ended up stabbing myself in the forehead. Thankfully, the resultant injury was treatable with hydrogen peroxide and band-aids. I ended up buying a tack remover - who would have known? - this is my most valued tool in the box.

I kept a journal and took photos during the removal process primarily to keep track of what I took off and in which order.

Once everything was off, it was time to figure out what was I going to use to recover it? I really could't afford to buy $32.00 a yard fabric. I could have bought fabric at Wal-mart for $6.97 a yard but I needed at least 8 yards...still too much. So, I opted for a 9 x 12 foot canvas drop cloth for $19.99. This gave me 8 yards at 54 inches wide. Perfect. I had enough blue and white ticking in my fabric stash for the piping and used clothesline for that.

I used a regular staple gun - didn't need a power staple gun. Saved money there! The entire project was under $30.00. Here is the finished project...

Recycle the Kid Art

If you're like me, you kept all the art your child created in school. You proudly hung it on the fridge or in your office cubicle.  Then you stored it away in a box for safe keeping. One box became two boxes and two boxes became three boxes. You get the idea. Then you sort it into precious and couldn't possibly throw away and those pieces that weren't so precious. Now you're down to one box, again.

You are now downsizing and need to get rid of stuff. You still can't part with this precious art created by your kid(s); Mother's Day cards that read, "To my Mom, I love you." How can you throw this away? Since we're now in a digital age, this problem is solved.

Just scan this precious art work into your computer in a folder labeled "Kid Art."  After you're done scanning - it takes awhile - select nine at a time to print wallet sized versions on an 8 1/2 by 11" magnet sheet and cut each piece out and stick them to your microwave or your fridge - anything magnetic like a cookie sheet for example. Ta da.

Now, you still have the paper. What to do with the paper? My thought, and it's just a thought, don't throw it away. You can shred them and make new paper out of it! There are simple instructions for making paper on line.

You can just store all this precious art work on a memory disk if you don't relish the idea of hanging it up again. Oh, and don't forget to recycle the box.